North Carolina boy survives 30-60 foot drop from waterfall

CANTON — A 12-year-old boy slipped on a hike with family and friends and took a 30- to 60-foot plunge down a waterfall on Monday, according to WLOS.

The boy dropped from the lower falls at Graveyard Fields off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

After the 4 p.m. fall, he was taken to the hospital. Officials said the boy should be okay, despite some fractures, WLOS reports.

By the time rescuers arrived, his family and friends had already pulled him from the water and he was alert, Haywood County Assistant Emergency Management Coordinator Cody Parton told the Charlotte Observer.

The Charlotte Observer reports that while other survivors of similar falls at Graveyard Fields have faced serious injuries, Parton could not recall any deaths.

The name of the falls stems from a time when a windstorm felled hundreds of spruce and fir trees in the area, according to the national Park Service. The moss-covered stumps are described as resembling graves.